


A Gotham Collection

by GreyWolves



Category: Batwoman (TV 2019)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-18
Updated: 2020-07-28
Packaged: 2020-12-21 14:24:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,795
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21076361
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GreyWolves/pseuds/GreyWolves
Summary: "Your loyalty to her is unparalleled.""Mary, please.""No!" Mary stood, whipping around to snarl at her visitor. "You have never been here! I've been here!" Mary slapped her hand to her chest, anguished. "This is my city! Where were you?"Kate pushed herself up, struggling to stand, she lifted her chin, refusing to show that she was injured. "I'm here now. That's all I can say.""You're here for Beth. Let's not pretend there is any other reason."





	1. Alice

Gotham nights were hallowed, they echoed and creaked while the populace scurried about, afraid of being caught out in the darkness. At night, the thugs made jokes, the businessmen became two-faced, the good heart became poison. In between the old buildings, rats hid from spots of rain, dodged puddles and hid from the dull street lights.  
  
The City was infamous for its villains, the crazy, the theatrical, the damned, damaged individuals who sort to cleanse the place with their distorted views. Alice of the Wonderland Gang, however, was something different.  
  
Atop one of the oldest and tallest concrete towers stood the villain, twirling her blade in her gloved hand, watching the lights from the cars below moved across the damp roads.  
  
"If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense."  
  
Alice looked over the ledge and clicked her tongue.  
  
"Which way ought you go? Sideways, perhaps? Up, maybe? Or how about down?"  
  
Alice's companion groaned and whimpered.  
  
"Oh, I'd love to see you go diagonal!'  
  
" Please..."  
  
Alice stepped back and turned to her guest, a lump who hung by his ankles over the edge, his face beetroot red from all of the blood rushing down.  
  
"How funny it’ll seem to come out among the people that walk with their heads downwards!"  
  
"What do you want? I can get you...money?"  
  
“When I used to read fairy tales, I fancied that kind of thing never happened, and now here I am in the middle of one!”  
  
"You're insane!"  
  
"Yes."  
  
Alice sighed and pushed the dangling man, causing him to spin, disorienting him even more.  
  
"Haven't you heard? Everybody's mad!"  
  
"Alice! We don't have time," a thug by the door commented, exasperated with the entire display and eager to get back to the street below.  
  
"Quiet now, Chuck. We have a guest."  
  
"Why are you so fascinated with Kate Kane? Why do you think she would even come here tonight?"  
  
"I sent a little message in a bottle. Someone will visit, who it is, we will have to wait and see."  
  
"We should kill her," Chuck sneered, stepping forward.  
  
"No!" Alice's features twisted angrily. "She is mine!"

The night crawled onwards as the water fell down, making the dark shiny and damp. The Bat-signal shone through the haze, lightning up the grey clouds. The beacon called to arms a hero that did not exist, it excited the soldiers as they readied themselves for a fight they planned to be swift and calculated, mechanical, memorized, perfectly executed. This city dealt with villains, these people were used to the dark. 

"Look out!"  
  
They stumble back as the Batwoman fell from the sky and landed gracefully on the ledge, the hero's cape fluttered out against the wind.  
  
Alice laughed. "Nice wig."  
  
Batwoman nodded to Chuck's bruised cheek, smirking as he ducked his head. "Nice eye."  
  
"Did she do that to you?" Alice gasped dramatically.  
  
"To be fair, he did try to kill me."  
  
"You did what!?"  
  
Chuck stepped back as Alice advanced on him, fierce and vengeful.  
  
"I told you that the Bat was off-limits!"  
  
"We need her out of the way!"  
  
"No! No, no, no, no, no! You do not touch the bat!"  
  
"Please!"  
  
"Shut up!" Alice and Chuck both screamed at the hostage.   
  
Batwoman waved her finger towards the suspended man. "Is that the Mayor?"  
  
"No. Maybe. I don't know." Alice rubbed at her temples.  
  
"Enough of this!" Chuck withdrew a hunters knife from his vest kit and sliced at a nearby rope.  
  
The mayor cried out as he fell, head first towards the street. A grappling hook wrapped around his legs, stopping his descent and slamming him into the side of the building.  
  
Batwoman lurched forward with the sudden force, quickly shooting a second rope to embed itself into the concrete beam above and then swiftly connecting the two mechanisms. With the victim now safe and secured, albeit, on the edge of consciousness and hysteria, the hero returned her attention to the criminals with a flip of her hair and twist of her heal.  
  
"We don't have time for this-- The Crows know you are here."  
  
Alice furrowed her brow, genuinely confused. "How? You were meant to come alone!"  
  
"I tried but I wasn't alone when I got your message."  
  
"Tattletale!"   
  
Chuck raised his gun. "We should end it now!"  
  
"You need to leave before they get here! Alice!"  
  
"No!" Alice turned her body, stepping between her right-hand and the vigilante.  
  
"Move out of the way, Alice!"  
  
"No!"  
  
Batwoman stepped down from the ledge and carefully approached the squabbling duo. "Alice, they are coming for you. Come with me now."

A police vehicle ran up onto the curb below and officers jumped out into the spitting rain, hands trembling at their weapons. The villain above was synonymous with the Joker and the Trickster, she was the legend that nightmares feared. The van filled with Crow soldiers arrived and spilled out heavily armoured bodies that rushed into a formation.  
  
Sophie checked and rechecked her gun, hesitant to begin but eager to finish. Someone with a scope confirmed that Batwoman was with the others on the roof and Sophie clenched her jaw shut. This building would be the battleground but there were no good guys, there was victims and vigilantes and terrorists.

"Alice!"  
  
"No! Stop!"  
  
Batwoman inched closer, focused on the frazzled woman holding her prized blade, coloured red, dripping onto her white gloves.  
  
"I'm not like this- I'm not a villain! I'm not the queen! The queen is evil! The queen cuts off their heads! Alice is just lost! She's...lost! Alice is lost!"  
  
"I know."  
  
"You found me."  
  
"I did."  
  
"Will you find me again?"  
  
"I promise."  
  
Alice dropped the knife and it hit the concert with a solid clunk. Somewhere within the building, soldiers ran up the stairwells, pushing to get to the action, to the treat, to the hostile. Somewhere on the ground lay the thug, the brute who followed Alice to his own death. Somewhere behind her, Batwoman stood, strong enough for both of them to stand.  
  
"I guess we're done here."  
  
"You should go."  
  
"You could come with me?"  
  
Batwoman smiled. "Maybe next time."


	2. Mary

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mary being boss when Gotham is crumbling.

It had rained fire on Gotham city, the concrete towers cracked and crumbled, buildings collapsed, people fled to nowhere safe. The Bat-signal had been activated. The light shot up into the sky as the citizens cried out for a saviour. Kate rushed out of her cave and into the heart of the fury with little time to consider why things had happened, how they had happened, or who was responsible.  
  
The batwoman was seen on the Gotham news channels, flying into battered buildings and dragging people out of burning buses. Mary put down her phone and forced herself to focus on her clinic. The injured bodies from the attack would reach her table soon, so she disinfected, she put on blue gloves and kicked off her useless high heels, swapping them for sneakers.  
  
They poured inside, a never-ending stream of screaming, scared individuals, gasping for help, grabbing at the coat Mary wore, trying to pull help closer. Mary pushed back, pushed them down onto tables and chairs and when she ran out of space, she treated victims on the ground. Someone said something about the Batwoman and Mary ignored them. One man had a Bat Blade embedded in his shoulder but Mary ignored it. There were no heroes or villains here -- just injured people.  
  
"I heard she never came out of that last explosion."  
  
"Batwoman was limping when I saw her."  
  
"She pulled out an injured police officer right before that building went down."  
  
"I saw her run back in. I didn't see her come out."  
  
"I heard Alice and her gang were responsible."  
  
Mary clenched her teeth and focused on counting the stitches she was drawing across a young woman face. The crazed face of Alice stuck with Mary, no matter what, she couldn't purge the woman from her mind. The villain's face had been all over social media, every newspaper, every radio station, Mary couldn't escape her predator.  
  
After she was attacked, Mary began counting things, steps to work, how many times she locked and unlocked doors, how many bottles of water she drank or calories she ate. It felt like an ever-building pressure that itched at her hands and head to keep counting. When the stitches were done she counted them a few more times before moving on to the next patient.  
  
The earth shook, it vibrated beneath everyone's feet, a loud crash was then heard distantly. Mary looked around at everyone and they looked around at everyone else.  
  
"Batwoman will save us..."  
  
A teenage boy stood and waved his phone in the air. "A helicopter just went down! It hit the courthouse!"  
  
The eruption of chaos that followed was unstoppable, people panicked, spoke over one another, rushed to phone their loved ones, Mary rubbed at the base of her neck and counted the corners of the windows.  
  
Gotham was in crisis. The hospitals we're overcapacity. There were triage setups popping up everywhere. The Crows had called in military assistance. The police were disorganised and scattered amongst the battlefields. Doctors ran into tiny war zones to help people. The firefighters had too much to do. The security officers were abruptly recruited for things that were above their pay grade. Some of the most notorious crime lords pledge a temporary truce and dirty money to aid the victims. The mayor sat in his office and thank everyone for their help.  
  
The night dragged on, slower than any other night before and when sunlight peaked over the horizon Mary almost cried, relieved that night had finally ended. The last patient left to trek home sometime after dawn and Mary locked the door, slouching against it, convinced that she could fall asleep while standing.  
  
The news replayed clips of bombs going off and children screaming. A reporter asked about Batwoman and conflicting statements came back. Mary sat at her desk and held her head in her hands, weary from the things that had been asked of her during the thick of it.  


Days after the tragedy, for almost a week, Mary worked consistently, she treated and healed the old, the new, the criminal, the good, the poor and the crazy. The clinic was drained of its resources and soon enough Mary had to start turning away some people. It broke her heart. Gotham was recovering. The City had been injured and it crawled into the new days bruised and angry.  
  
Mary was so distracted doing inventory, counting her tools, that she didn't hear the door to the clinic creak open.  
  
"I heard that you've been pretty busy."  
  
Mary barley looked over her shoulder, opting to continue counting the last of her supplies. Kate drifted closer, quietly observing.  
  
"Dad's been calling me. Asking about you. He's worried."  
  
The sterile plastic crinkled as Mary moved the sealed tools into their specific draws, her fingers moved up and down the draws, counting them, making sure that they were solid.  
  
Kate orbited the frazzled healer, cautious not to get too close. The air was stifled and hot inside the clinic, Kate tugged at the sleeves of her leather jacket, her ribs ached, her head felt light and she leaned against a gurney to stop the world from tilting.  
  
"Your mother even called me once. That was an awkward surprise."  
  
"I'm busy."  
  
Kate nodded and gripped the bed tighter. "I know. I just wanted to check on you."  
  
"Where have you been?"  
  
"What do you--"  
  
"--Alice blew up Gotham bank, she brought down a helicopter and cause a mass crash on the bridge. Where were you? Getting coffee together?"  
  
"Mary... Alice didn't do this."  
  
"Really? You really think that?"  
  
"I know it."  
  
"Your loyalty to her is unparalleled."  
  
"Mary, please."  
  
"No!" Mary stood, whipping around to snarl at her visitor. "You have never been here! I've been here!" Mary slapped her hand to her chest, anguished. "This is my city! Where were you?"  
  
Kate pushed herself up, struggling to stand, she lifted her chin, refusing to show that she was injured. "I'm here now. That's all I can say."  
  
"You're here for Beth. Let's not pretend there is any other reason." 

  
Mary worked, she pushed herself so hard that at the end of the day she collapsed in the back room of the clinic, on her couch, still in her white coat and blood-splattered sneakers. The City had stitched itself up and somehow kept going, despite the losses.  
  
Batwoman reappeared and so did Alice and her Wonderland Gang. The Crows condemned Alice, vowing to stop the madwoman. Gotham itself had turned angry, vengeful and merciless. Everyone wanted the villain punished, including Mary.  
  
"Alice sends her regards." A thug stepped towards Mary, chest puffed out, eyes narrowed.  
  
Mary was tired, too tired to fight, she let her handbag slip from her fingers and clatter onto the pavement. She was too tired to run back to the clinic, to yell for help, to fight back, to do anything.  
  
The man advanced, stomping towards her and Mary closed her eyes, bracing herself for the strike.  
  
"You can tell Alice that the Doc is protected!"  
  
When Mary opened her eyes, Batwoman was beating back the thug, disarming him with swift, powerful movements. The lackey scrambled back and eventually ran away, having had enough of a thrashing.  
  
Batwoman turned to face Mary. "Why didn't you run?"  
  
"Dude, I just did a fourteen-hour shift at the clinic, it's a miracle that I am still standing right now."  
  
"Can I walk you home?"  
  
"Seriously?"  
  
"I'm going to follow you anyway."  
  
"Right, because the crazy lady wants to kill me! Awesome."  
  
"Yeah, she does."  
  
"Shouldn't you have dragged her into the nuthouse by now?"  
  
"It's complicated."  
  
"Is that a wig?"  
  
"...what?"  
  
"Sorry. Fourteen-hour shift."  
  
"Right."  
  
Mary began walking, the street blurred and random thoughts came out of her mouth against her will, drunk on the lack of sleep, she called over her shoulder, "Well, hurry up. I really need my bed. No criminal is going to stop me from passing out on my mountain of fluffy blankets." 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I adore Mary. I hope Kate and Mary develop a really strong relationship as the show goes on.


	3. Sophie

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sophie has a confession.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have both been really eager to write this one and extremely terrified. I hope it reads well. Please be kind. Sophie has a story to tell us.

The academy was a turning point. Sophie thought about it every day. The moment she chose her career over her own heart. The day she hurt Kate. Those pieces of paper were slid across the desk by an angry-looking instructor, and he told her that this was her last chance, that if she didn't sign that she could leave, permanently. Everything she had ever worked for would vanish in an instant.

Kate would never understand, not completely. They both were women in a predominantly male-dominated field, they were both called inefficient, not good enough, not strong enough; men would stand in front of them, speak over them, or ignore them entirely. They worked twice as hard to be considered half as good. Kate, however, was a rich girl, who belonged to an important family, no matter what, Kate would be okay.

Sophie came from the middle class, everything she had achieved, she treasured, like gold in her chest that only she could feel the weight of, and she appreciated it every day. Where Kate was carefree and fearless, Sophie was determined -- she had grown up with little and she would refuse to go back to nothing, not after everything.

It broke Kate's heart, Sophie saw it on her face when she explained what she had done. Kate would be okay. Sophie felt the gold in her chest crack that day, just a little.

The day passed and Sophie counted them, training, studying, aching through moments. The people above her eventuality forgot about her tiny transgression, after a few horrid months of constantly reminding her and waiting for her to fail. Sophie became one of the best, an unstoppable force, a prized soldier. Then she met a nice, clean, sharp-jawed man that everyone approved of, and she married him when he proposed. The wedding was small and quick, she had never thought of getting married before and now it was something she had ticked off her perfect-soldier-list. A list she never created but that she had tucked away to make other people happy.

When she became a Crow she'd thought that she would feel fulfilled, finally and yet all that she felt after almost a decade was exhausted. She'd pushed through life to become another person's vision of a good soldier, and when Kate returned to Gotham City, still fearless, still so very beautiful, that heavy gold in her chest began to crumble.

"Stop!"

The sky was littered with shiny stars, unusually for Gotham, which is often cloudy or foggy so high up. Someone hired by someone else had stolen something very important and then had chosen to run across the rooftops in an effort to escape the Crows. Sophie and a few other Crow's chased after him, leaping over air vents and swinging from fire escapes.

The thief was young and panting heavily, he would give up before the Crows. He jumped over an alley, a gap between to buildings and landed awkwardly on his left foot. He cried out and stumbled the rest of the way across the roof. Sophie lept over and barrel-rolled, easily dispersing the impact. The Crows following her hesitated, flinched and then didn't jump, stomping there feet and huffing indignantly as they watched Sophie outrun them.

Sophie smiled as she closed in on the poor lad, bringing her shoulders up and bending her knees a little more, readying herself for the takedown.

"Don't come any closer! I'll drop it! I will!"

Sophie staggered to a stop and looked between the thief and the drive that he held over the edge of the building. "Okay. Okay. Easy."

"I'm just the tech guy! I didn't want to do this!"

"Well, you did. You stole something pretty valuable."

"Do you even know what's on here?"

Sophie paused. "Well, no..."

"If you did you would get out of Gotham. This place is infested with evil."

"Okay..." Sophie took a step forward, raising her hands to show passiveness.

"It's not just good guys and bad guys anymore, its... Monsters. This city has monsters!"

"I hear you."

"I wanted to leave. To go work for this big tech company across the country. But they said that I was too valuable. They won't let me leave. I'm stuck."

The thief was skinny, with messy brown hair and a wrinkled collar shirt. He wasn't a villain, he wasn't even a decent criminal by the look of him. He was sweaty and crying and babbling.

"What's your name?"

"Josh. Joshua."

"Okay." Sophie lowered her arms. "Josh. That drive is not worth your life."

The wind picked up, a breeze blew Josh's tie across his chest, and he stumbled a bit with the wind, swaying closer to the street.

"Give it to me now and we can both walk away."

Josh's feet shuffled closer to the edge. "You don't understand. How could you?"

"What don't I understand, Josh?"

"I'm a coward."

Sophie froze, something about his expressive altered, became defeated, limp, accepting.

"I did so many bad things for them. I never wanted to be the bad guy." He looked over his shoulder towards the Bat-signal the shone several buildings over, slightly faded against the starlight.

"It's okay, Josh. Let's just end this here."

"Yeah. Its time for this to end."

The drive slipped from his fingers and Sophie sighed, frustrated as the smashing sound echoed upwards a second later. Then Josh lifted his arms at his sides and Sophie realised a second too late...

"No, Josh! Wait--"

He let himself fall backwards, off the building, almost ten stories from the ground.

Sophie rushed to the edge and looked over just in time to see Josh being lowered safely to the ground by a figure with very distinct bright red hair. The tiny nerd fell on to his ass trying to scramble away from the Batwoman, seemingly more afraid of her than he was of the Crows just a few minutes prior.

Batwoman looked up from the street and Sophie pushed away from the edge, unable to focus on the hero at that moment, she had a very long report to write.

The adrenaline drained from her body as she slowly walked towards the fire escape on the other side of the building, her muscles felt heavy and head began to hurt, just at the base of her skull. Sophie tapped her radio and felt the tension in the radio waves as explained that the target and the thief were gone.

...

The other soldiers were smug. At least that's what Sophie felt when she walked passed them, she felt like she had failed and they had expected it. She could work for years to be perfect and then one thing would make her feel like that young girl in the academy, judged, looked down upon, dismissed easily. The truth may be that the other soldiers liked her -- even respected her but Sophie would never feel that way completely, not after all of the sacrifices it took for her to be the perfect soldier. Not after cutting pieces of herself away until there was nothing left except the reflections and expectations that she saw in everyone else.

The debriefing was quick and sharp, cutting at her a little more. The Crows were disappointed and unenergetic with the loss. The only person who won in that situation was the Batwoman, she had saved another citizen. Sophie kind of hated her for always being able to do the right thing. A majority of the time, however, Sophie admired the Batwoman, she idolised her even, like most people who lived in Gotham. 

...

The Batwoman had become a beacon of hope, her picture was sprayed on walls, it covered the news, it dominated social media and she was all the citizen could talk about, save for Alice and her Wonderland crew. The people spoke with reference and awe with regards to the new hero, they worshipped the Bat-signal that flew across the sky; they prayed to it and wished upon it.

Sophie spoke to Batwoman, in the middle of the night, in her car, before she built up enough courage to walk through her front door. The Crow would look up at the sky and search for the Bat, and even if the light wasn't shining completely through the gloomy clouds, Sophie would smile just knowing she was out there, somewhere.

Sophie would try to speak to her husband, Tyler, about all of the conflict in her head but he could never really understand, he had never lived anything close to the life that she had lived.

Every day was the same, work harder, be stronger, be better, don't let them see you weak, don't them see you bend or break, keep going, don't stop, eat, sleep, repeat.

...

One night, the pressure behind her eyes had built up too much and Sophie was afraid that she would burst, that she would scream at her husband that she didn't love him and that she couldn't breathe. So, instead, she told him that she was going for a run and then found herself sitting on a park bench, angrily wiping away the wetness from her eyes.

When it got too cold, and her knees began to quiver every time the wind brushed them, Sophie stood and began to walk, and eventually, she found a familiar clinic, surprised that it was still open at two o'clock in the morning.

After calling out, knocking twice and receiving no response, Sophie carefully stepped inside and found the doctor sprawled out across one of her beds with a sliver of saliva on the side of her mouth.

"Mary? Mary. Mary!"

"What! What? I'm awake. Why am I awake? Soph? What the hell?" The doctor waved her arms about and awkwardly pulled herself into a seated position on the creaking bed.

"Sorry. I saw the lights on. I was in the area."

"What time is it?" Mary pulled back the sleeve of her white coat and gasped at her watch. "Shit. I was supposed to lockup and go home three hours ago. My mother is going to skin me alive."

Sophie grinned and leaned back against the wall. "She still doesn't know about this place, huh?"

"No. Not exactly. She probably still thinks I'm some party slut."

"Nothing wrong with that."

"No, but I love the look on her face when I fake stumbling in for breakfast on a Sunday morning." 

"You don't mind that she has this image of you?"

"Nope. As long as I get to do what I really want, it doesn't matter what she thinks."

Sophie looked at her feet, it was just one of those days where she feels didn't as brave as she was trying to be.

"Hey, are you okay?"

"Yeah... No. Not really."

"You want vodka? We can talk about it."

"You have vodka? So you really are just a party girl."

"What? No. It's for sterilizing things. When the supplies a low I use what I can get. Also, it was a gift from a very nice Russian thug I patched up last month.

The pair made tea instead. That sat in the backroom on the old couch sipped their drinks slowly, drawing out the moment. Sophie wasn't sure where to begin. Mary was patient.

"Last week I had a night off. Tyler was at work. I went to this corner store over on Parks and Fifth..."

Mary nodded and sipped her tea some more.

"...I had never been there before but it had this picture of Batwoman on the side of the wall. I was dressed in a hoodie and yoga pants. I just wanted to buy some chips and beer. A nice evening home alone."

"I know the place. I've seen that wall on the Gotham city Instagram feed."

"I went to the back of the store where the alcohol was kept. I was looking for Tiger Beer."

"Yuck. Hate that stuff."

"The owner comes storming up towards me with a rifle in his hand."

Mary blinked, she watched as Sophie turned her gazed away, remembering every detail.

"He yelled at me, called me things, said that I wasn't going to steal from him, "not this store!" I wasn't afraid, I could have disarmed him easily. It's just... When I wear the uniform, people see me as someone important, I'm an authority. Without it, I'm just a black woman. Two things that a lot of people don't like, let alone put together."

"Soph..."

"In the academy, with Kate, I couldn't control the colour of my skin or my gender but I could control my sexuality. Being a black woman in the military is hard enough, I couldn't be gay too."

Mary put her tea down, shocked. "I had no idea..."

"It's okay. How could you?"

"It's really not okay."

"No. It's just life."

Mary and Sophie weren't that close. Mary was protective of Kate because she felt that's what a sister would be like towards your sister's ex. Yet, in the fluorescent light of her clinic, which she worked at to help the forgotten, she couldn't help but feel guilty, she'd forgotten something important, or maybe she didn't know that it existed, or worse, maybe she knew that it existed but she chose to ignore it.

Sophie exhaled, like the weight of the last decade had lifted slightly from her shoulders.

She had said it, finally.


	4. Maggie Sawyer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A snippet of Maggie Sawyer's entrance into the CW DC's Universe. I ship Maggie Sawyer and Kate Kane. (Spoiler: They got married on the comics! How cool is that!?)

The train slid along the tracks like a long snake, black steel hissed, smoothly switching directions and skidding into stations. It groaned and complained as it was pulled to stop at Gotham Central Station. The people pushed there way inside, tiered from their long Tuesday, and the train rocked a little with the weight of them. A man echoed on the station's speakers, telling the weary visitors not to smoke and to remember to pay the correct fare. 

A Bat waited atop the train, stealthy and sleek, with a Batarang buried into the trains flesh attached to a cable to keep the Bat steady when the beast jolted to life once again. 

Amongst the masses, a group of men and women who wore sunglasses in the dim lighting stepped onto the train, they hid guns beneath jackets and tucked knives into belts, and the Bat watched them watch the patrons, she watched them note watches and phones and train guards and children. 

The doors closed, the people scrambled for seats, apologies and grunts sounded throughout the cabins. 

The group who wore sunglasses stood stiffly by a door. 

"Luke, I think I've found them." Kate gripped the cable tighter as the train began to move. 

"Copy that. I'll send Gotham P.D. another tip. Hopefully, they take it seriously this time." 

"I won't hold my breath." 

"We need, like, a Bat-signal for police." 

Kate smirked. "A way to contact them quickly." 

"Exactly." 

"In case of an emergency. Like an easy-to-remember phone number." 

"Yes...wait. You're making fun of me." 

"I am." 

An elderly woman staggered down the aisle of the train, quickly grabbing onto a seat handle when the car shifted a little too suddenly. A dark-haired woman with a big smile, kind eyes and a leather jacket stood and offered her seat. The older woman smile, pulling on the sleeve of the younger woman to keep her close. 

"You are so pretty! Are you married? My name is Magda." 

"Ah, no, not married. I'm Maggie." The other woman smiled, leaning closer. 

"Boyfriend?" 

"No, no boyfriend."

"My son is a veterinarian." 

"Oh? Wow, I do love animals." 

Magda clapped happily. "A perfect match! He has two dogs!" 

"Oh, no. Really? I'm allergic to dogs." Maggie frowned. 

"Oh, no! Bad luck." Magda pondered for a moment be she announced, "I have a nephew!" 

The wheels screeched against the track as the breaks were pulled, the train slowed to a stop and the lights flickered strangely. The passengers looked around for answers and became distressed when they found none. 

Outside, the batwoman peered over the edge, engaging her night vision yet still seeing nothing. 

"Luke?" 

"Batwo...signal is being distor...in the tunnel...lead...intentional dampening..."

"Luke? Luke?" The vigilante tapped her communicator a few times. "I guess I'm doing this one solo." 

"Everybody! Get your hands in the air! Hands up and no one dies! Do it! Now!" 

"That's my cue." 

Batwoman gave some slacked to the cable still in her hands and ran off the roof of the train, she swung down and smashed through the glass window, flying in and kicking one of the offenders through a window on the other side of the car. 

Another one of the thugs charged at her and she blocked their sloppy punches before throwing a devastating one of her own, the attacker slumped to the side and Batwoman continued onto the next, she disarmed and disable with military-trained and practised precision. 

When the hero thought it was finished a gun cocked behind her, and then someone yelled and a body dropped. 

Batwoman spun around and found a woman brandishing a detectives badge aiming her gun down at a man that she had subdued. 

The woman smiled a the hero. "You missed one." 

Madga applauded. 

Gotham was recovering from a trauma, the citizens were aching and bruised, weary and paranoid, they stomped through there days hearings things about extravagant villains and it all seemed slightly unfair. The Gotham Police patrolled hesitantly, ever understanding that they would never be paid enough to battle the likes of Jokers or Tricksters. 

The Bat-signal was a beacon of hope, that someone was brave enough, equipped enough, strong enough to fight the evil of nightmares that lurked along the broken streets of Gotham. 

Kate Kane put a lot of money into the rebuilding effort, she was seen helping put down new roads, visiting the local high schools, cutting ribbons with the mayor, mingling with the rich-types during fundraisers and galas to encourage any extra help. Among the rich faces visiting and helping during the rebuild were names such as Felicity Smoak, Ray Palmer and Lena Luthor. 

Gotham crawled towards stability. The Mayor's office was stripped and new staff were hired. The Police department was reorganised. New trauma clinics were positioned throughout the city, lest another catastrophe rained down upon them again. 

Kate lifted her shirt and pressed an ice pack to her ribs, grimacing and stretching back in her chair to relive some of the aches. 

"You missed lunch with the District Attorney again," Luke huffed, walking into Kates office with his head down, tapping away on his tablet. 

"I was a little strung up." 

"I rescheduled for Wednesday." 

Kate sighed. "Fine. Any new information on the train holdup." 

Luke looked up, tucking the tablet under his arm. "Nothing. GCPD is keeping everything tight. Or they actually don't know anything. Much like us." 

"What about the interrogation tapes? None of them confessed? What was the motive?" 

"To live out some cowboy fantasy? That's the only reason I'd hold up a train." 

Kate sat forward and dump the ice pack onto the desk. "What about the tunnel? We lost comm-"

"Oh, sorry. Should I have knocked?" 

Kate looked towards the woman from the train, now standing unsure by her office door. 

"I'll go back out and knock. Wait. No. That seems silly. I'm already in your office." Maggie smiled and closed the door. "I'll just stay." 

"Who are you?" Luke shrieked, jittery and outraged. "How did you get in here?" 

Maggie walked up to the anxious assistant and held out her hand. "Detective Maggie Sawyer." 

"Um. Luke. I'm Luke." 

Kate smiled. "He's my butler." 

"No, I'm not." Luke quickly shook the Detectives hand, then took a protective step back towards Kate. 

"Cool." Maggie turned her attention to the woman behind the desk, her eyes briefly and unintentionally flicked to the ice pack cooling some files in front of the billionaire. "And you're Kate Kane." 

Kate gracelessly grabbed the pack and tossed it somewhere under the desk. "How can I help you, Detective?" 

"I was actually wondering how I could help you?" 

"How..." 

"A super good friend of mine suggested that I look you up once I got situated here. Kara Danvers?" 

"Super..." 

"I was engaged to her sister for a little while." 

"Wait." 

"Good job with the train, by the way." 

"You--" 

"And the hostage situation on fifth. And that bridge-thing yesterday. Is it true that Alice--" 

"Okay. Stop!" Luke shrieked and both women looked at him as he uselessly straightened his tie. "I need to have words with Kara Danvers." 

Kate looked at Maggie and noticed the cheeky smile. The detective came across as relaxed and confident, effortlessly bold and clearly very kind. "Relax, Luke, it's fine. Maggie, right?" 

Maggie nodded. 

"Maggie is clearly one of the good guys and if Kara said we should connect, then I trust Kara."   
  
Maggie smiled again, big and bright. "Cool." 

Kate winked at Maggie, enjoying Luke's distress and confusion as he looked between the two women. 


	5. A Temporary Batwoman

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alex Danvers puts on the Batwoman outfit for a week.

The Wayne manor was large and dark, iron and oak sealed together in a gothic style, stiff carpet, and creaky floorboards. The paintings that sat on the main walls dominated the rooms, dust-covered, dank, oil paintings of people and events long dead, with eyes that followed guests from room to room. The moonlight cast long shadows that looked like demons about the place, twisted silhouettes of a centuries-old armchair or an obnoxiously tall candle stand. 

Alex Danvers cautiously stepped through the foyer, eyeing the decor with a detective's natural suspicion, her hand hovered by her hip as shadowy imaginary monsters loomed. Thunder struck, and Alex jolted and squeaked, and then cursed herself for being afraid of nothing. 

"Who are you?" 

"Holy shh!" Alex spun around. "Dude. Not cool." 

Luke folded his arms. "What are you doing here?" 

The agent withdrew her identification and waved it at the man. "Relax. I'm a cop. Kate said I could crash here if I ever needed to get away. I didn't think anyone else would be here." 

"Special agent Alexandra Danvers." Luke narrowed his eyes. "Any relation to Kara Danvers?" 

"My sister." 

Luke sighed. "So Kate just leaves, and lets National City hero's come in and take over. Great. Just great." 

"Hey, I'm not here to take over anything. I just. I wanted to. I needed a break. Okay, a break." 

Luke shook his head and stormed off down a dark hallway. 

"Hey, wait!" 

"Unbelievable!" 

Alex turned a corner and lost the disgruntled fellow for a moment, before hearing him cuss and stomp up a staircase, already feeling lost in the labyrinth she quickly followed. 

"Hey, wait up!" 

"Gotham City is in disarray! I don't have time to babysit." 

"I don't really need a babysitter." 

"What we're you thinking, Kate?" 

"I think she was thinking that there was, like, eighteen spare rooms in this place." 

Luke barged into an office and stopped by a bookcase, he raised his hand hesitantly to a display case that sat on a shelf. 

"Look, maybe we can call Kate? If it's too much drama I can head back in the morning. Just don't freak out." 

"I think you're the one who's about to freak out." 

"What?" 

Luke twisted the display and the bookcase shifted, revealing a secret elevator. 

"Wow. That was unexpected." 

The Bat Cave was a dark hole in the earth, with black stone and squeaky creatures, and yet and entire computer laboratory had been designed to run in its confines. Alex noticed air vents and ramps and a platform where a vehicle rested, she heard water trickling somewhere and the hum of the massive computer. 

"This is insane. Then again, the DEO was basically the same thing, just less...scary." 

A tall case, resting inside one of the cave walls, lit up to show the legendary Bat Woman costume secured on a stand. Alex approached with wide eyes. 

"I like those colours. I mean, I've seen Batwoman on the news but up close -- that is a really nice red." 

"There's a protest at the courthouse. It bound to get ugly. The Bat-Signal has been shining for days. People need to see Batwoman." 

"Wait. What are you suggesting?" 

"Suit up." 

Alex laughed. "No. No. No, that's not why I'm here." 

"Then why are you here?" Luke challenged. 

"To get away. From life. I feel like a haven't had a moment to be just me." 

"And who are you?" 

Alex paused. "I don't know." 

"Sounds complicated." Luke walked up to the display case and tapped on the glass. "Wouldn't it be fun to be a hero for a bit. Just one night even. The city gets a bit of hope and you get..."

"I get to not be Alex Danvers. Just for a night." 

"Hmm."

"Sounds like escapism." 

"Some of us play World of Warcraft. This is better." 

"Just a night." 

"Maybe the weekend." 

"I do have the week off work." 

"So what do you say?" 

The Bat-Signal shone red in an otherwise black sky, the only light amongst black buildings and dark streets. Gotham Police camped around the place as a crowd cheered angrily in front of the courthouse, they held up signs and screamed profanities at a judge as he was escorted to a police vehicle. 

A Batwoman sat atop a nearby building and surveyed the area. 

"These night-vision specs are insane!" 

"Thank you." Luke smiled from his place in the Bat-Cave, tapping away on the computer. 

"Hey, what does the little canister do?" 

"Don't push any buttons if you don't know how to use those devices." 

"You're no fun." 

"You're here to show the people of Gotham that Batwoman is still around, and if Batwoman has to get rescued because she teargassed herself then fell a hundred feet..." 

"Got it. Not touching the little canister. I am a trained agent you know?" 

"You have never used my gadgets." 

"Who are the mercenary-looking guys?" 

Luke glanced at the screen showing what Batwoman was observing. "They are Crows. Military. They were brought in to help Gotham almost a decade ago." 

The Crows stood like statues as the mob of citizens stomped and screamed. The judge was slowly taken away and the crowed deflated minutely. 

Alex sighed. "Well, that was anti-climatic." 

"Oh, sorry you didn't get a full riot." 

"You know what I mean. You gave me this whole speech about being a hero for a little bit and I haven't done anything yet." 

"There's a robbery-in-progress at sixth and Cornwell." 

"I'll take it!" 

For the next week, the Gotham news was dominated with a three-second clip of Batwoman sparta-kicking a thug wielding a baseball bat. 

**Author's Note:**

> I am so happy to finally have a story that has good LGBT representation. I stan Batwoman hard. Alice is currently my favourite character.


End file.
